Improvement in clothes-wringing machines



' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELLIOT DICKERMAN, OF MIDDLEFIELD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNCR TO THE METROPOLITAN VASHING MACHINE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTHES-WRINGING, MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34,459, dated February 18, 1862.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, ELLIOT DICKERMAN, of Middlefield, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines for Wringing Clothes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which is an isometrical View of the machine complete with a portion of atub to which it is attached.

The object of my invention is to attach the machine readily and rmly to a tub or other vessel at will without liability to either deface the vessel by the means employed in the fastening or to release the fastening by the working of the machine. Its nature consists in making the frame of the wringing-machine in two or more parts connected together in the manner of a vise or tongs, so as to form a movable jaw operated at a point or points above the tub or vessel and adapted to clamp the machine upon the latter without abrasion thereof, and also to work or slip thereon, if compelled to do so, Without loosening or affecting in any wise the wedges or other means employed for operating the clamp.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation by the aid of the drawing.

A is that portion of the framing of my Inachine in which rollers are operated by a crank (notrepresented) for thepurpose of expressing the water from garments, which garments are passed through between said rollers for such purpose. I prefer to make and arrange my rollers in the manner described in my patent, dated April 10, 1860, and reissued January 6, 1861, and have so represented them in this drawing. The lower portions of A extend below'the rollers, as shown, and designated a.

To the outside of A o,I fix brackets B B, having each a hole to receive a horizontal pin or axis C.

D d is a stout frame, in the form represented, hinged to A a by means of the axis or pins C, so that it is free to turn thereon. The prolonged axis of this motion is indicated by a red line. The upper portion of Dis grooved on the side presented toward A, as represented, and adapted to lreceive wedges E.

When these wedges are not inserted, the parts CZ and a may be easily slipped down upon, so as to set astride the edge of a tub or other suitable vessel G containing the clothes. After it is so placed in position the wedges E should be inserted in the manner represented and be pressed or driven down. This causes the clamping frame or part D d to turn slightly on its shaft or hinge C, and forces d and a, into so tight contact with the opposite faces of the tub G-one on the inner face and the other on the outer face-as to hold the entire machine very firmly in its place and allow its crank to be turned with the required force until it is again 'released by the removal of the wedges E.

A wringing-machine has before been made with a forked base adapted to fit upon the edge of a tub, and wedges have been driven between the legs of such a device and the tub tov tighten and release the hold at pleasure; but such wedges deface the tub by their friction, and the slight working or tendency to work of the machine upon the tub rapidly loosens them, so that such fastening is ineffectual and impracticable. Screws have also been introduced through such legs to press against or indent into the tub to cause the machine to hold thereto; but there screws are ob- 'j ectionable, not alone because they deface the tub or vessel at the points where they are caused to bite, but because in consequence of their low position they are much in the way, and are obviously liable to entangle the garments being operated on.

My invention differs substantially. from these because, first, it avoids a great portion of the friction and other defacing of the tub and is only subject to that due to the slight Working or `slipping of the machine alternately in opposite directions upon the tub, arising from the action of the hand upon the crank; second, it avoids the loosening of the fastening by such working,because such working does not, as in the devices before known, release the wedges or have any tendency to do so, but the wedges are in my invention held between the parts D and A, which do not move upon each other however much the legs d and o may move upon the tub; third, it avoids Inuch of the liability to tangle the clothes, because it presents no projecting part of any kind below the upper edge of the tub for the clothes to meet either in rising out of the tub or descending into the basket outsid e, and, fourth, it allows of an increase of purchase by allowing the part D above the hinge C to be considerably longer than the part d below the hinge, so that a given force produced by the wedge E or its equivalent produced a great force grasping the tub.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows: Constructing the frame of a clothes-wrlnger witnesses.

ELLIOT DIOKERMAN. Witnesses:

WM. B. SMITH, D. W. STETsoN. 

